Stories

Uber CEO: SoftBank deal will happen

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Photo: Paul Sakuma / AP

Dara Khosrowshahi today gave his first public interview since being named CEO of Uber, at the DealBook Conference in New York City. He said that the pending investment from SoftBank — which remains stymied by governance disagreements between former CEO Travis Kalanick and VC firm Benchmark — "hasn't happened yet but it will."

More highlights:

When search firm called: "I think this is a call I want to completely ignore." He then spoke about it to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and, after telling Ek he was happy, was told: "Since when is life about being happy? It's about doing something."

Khosrowshahi's relationship with Travis Kalanick is "good, but comes with balance."

"When I got into this role I didn't want to take sides... Don't tell me about what happened, but about what we're going to do."

Khosrowshahi confirmed prior Axios reporting that he did not read an internal report from Eric Holder before accepting the position.

He says that Uber is targeting 2019 for an initial public offering. "We have all the disadvantages of being a public company, in terms of having a spotlight on us, but none of the advantages."

"The driver is the most important element on the entire consumer experience."

"The drivers don't want to become employees."

"I think we were generally immature" about dealing with regulators, such as in London.

On the multiples legal and financial ties between Uber, Google, Didi and Lyft: "It's like a giant orgy."